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This CV was made by using Nick Strayer’s datadrivencv R package, and built in R blogdown


Contact

R Skills

Main

Bryan Acton, Ph.D. 

I am fascinated by adopting cutting-edge statistical and programming techniques for studying complex system dynamics including leadership in teams. This includes designing simulations using agent-based models to generate large and complex data structures, using predictive models to better understand complex data, and communicating data-driven insights from web applications made in Shiny.

Education

Ph.D., Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Blacksburg, VA

2020 - 2016

  • Dissertation: Using agent-based modeling to test and integrate process-oriented perspectives of leadership emergence
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. Roseanne Foti

M.S., Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Blacksburg, VA

2016 - 2014

  • Thesis: Working in harmony: the impact of personality on the short- and long-run dynamics of team cohesion

B.A., Psychology

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

North Adams, MA

2013 - 2009

  • Honors Program
  • Summa Cum Laude

Research Experience

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Durham University Business School (Centre for Leadership & Followership)

Durham, UK

Current - 2020

  • Working on multiple projects including a lead on a project investigating identity invention dynamics in college students in the UK. Developed entire script in R for measuring identity dynamics using dynamical systems perspective developed by Dr. Steven Boker and colleagues.
  • Taught multiple R workshops to faculty and staff across multiple subjects such as text transcription and basic data wrangling.
  • Have multiple publications and book chapters either out for review or in preparation with submission in the coming months. Also working on putting together new funding proposal for Army Research Institute with Dr. Robert Lord and colleagues on using predictive modeling to assess memory processing in items used in leadership scales.

Lab Coordinator and Graduate Research Assistant

Interface of Leadership and Teams Lab (PI: Dr. Roseanne Foti)

Virginia Tech

2019 - 2016

  • Worked with team of faculty, as only Graduate Assistant for Army Research Institute Basic Research Grant Titled: Episodic and Semantic Memory Effects on Leadership Measurement and Prediction of Leadership Outcomes. Also was ILT lab coordinator for two years.
  • Led data collection across three different studies, two using larger online sampling, and one in-lab study with army corps of cadets.
  • Designed multiple tools for both data collection and data analysis, including a python program to code linguistic features of leadership items, random forest models (using R) for predicting memory processing of leadership judgements, and an experimental procedure using PsychoPy.

As a part of my role as lab coordinator for two years in the ILT lab, I directly mentored nine undergraduates. I am excited to share that five of these students continued on to masters programs, and two continued on to doctoral programs.

Publications

Acton, Braun, & Foti (2020) was awarded an annual “Editors Commendation” award for notable papers of the year.

Acton, B. P., Braun, M. T., & Foti, R. J. (2020). Built for unity: assessing the impact of team composition on team cohesion trajectories. Journal of Business and Psychology, 35(6), 751–766. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-019-09654-7
Acton, B. P., Foti, R. J., Lord, R. G., & Gladfelter, J. A. (2019). Putting emergence back in leadership emergence: A dynamic, multilevel, process-oriented framework. The Leadership Quarterly, 30(1), 145–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.07.002
Hansbrough, T. K., Lord, R. G., Schyns, B., Foti, R. J., Liden, R. C., & Acton, B. P. (2020). Do you remember? Rater memory systems and leadership measurement. The Leadership Quarterly, 101455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2020.101455

Selected Current Projects

Capturing identity invention with a system dynamics approach

Drs. Karolina Nieberle, Susanne Braun, Robert Lord (Durham University)

N/A

Current - 2020

  • Purpose of the project is to model the process of how first year students in university invent their initial leader and follower identities. We studied identity fluctuations at the daily-level across three different contexts across a year.
  • Working paper reviewed by many colleagues including Dr. Steven Boker (UVA). Paper accepted into upcoming conference symposium. Paper recently accepted into paper development workshop. Plans for submission shortly after feedback from workshop.
  • In addition to central paper, I am working on developing a Shiny application to easily visualize system dynamics with Dr. Steven Boker. I am also working on a paper that will serve as a tutorial and R package for an introduction to performing dynamical systems analyses (planned for method journal submission).

Using supervised learning to classify leadership scale items in terms of memory processing

Dr. Robert Lord (Durham University)

N/A

Current - 2020

  • Purpose of this project is to use our multiple samples of past leadership ratings (N > 30000), to train a classification model to identify the role of item characteristics in memory processing for leadership judgements.
  • We are working on a grant submission for funding from the US Army Research Institute to fund additional data collection and other resources.
  • Ultimate goal will be to create a shiny application that can serve as an instrument development tool, so that people can input items they are working on and identify the type of memory processing people would use for that item.

Race, identity, & leadership emergence

Drs. Tyree Mitchell (LSU), Patrick Coyle (La Salle University)

N/A

Current - 2019

  • Purpose of this project is to test our theory about the complicated role of identity expression in organizations. We utilize a sample of student teams working over time. The paper originally received a revision, but we are now working on an agent-based model to test the temporal implications of race on leadership over time, with plans of resubmitting the paper.
  • I am leading the development of the agent-based model where we simulate teams with different combinations of the core study variables. We will next manipulate some of the assumptions about diversity and teams.
  • I am using this paper to prepare a paper on using agent-based models to study team dynamics with a walk-through tutorial.

Meta-analysis of leader identity development

Drs. Janey Zheng, Karolina Nieberle, Richard Morgan (Durham University)

N/A

Current - 2020

  • Article coding on-going, with plan to submit for review this summer.
  • I developed a python script for automatically searching article PDFs for specific keywords.

The early development of gender bias in leadership

Drs. Roseanne Foti (Virginia Tech), Julie Dunsmore (University of Houston), Erika Hernandez (Penn State)

N/A

Current - 2018

  • Coded drawings from children in middle childhood for leadership, as well as used interviews about these leaders to understand the potential existence of gender bias in leadership in middle childhood.
  • Paper accepted at multiple conferences previously. Plans to submit research report to journal this summer.

Using speech transcription and text analysis to capture social identity in Donald Trump’s speeches across COVID-19

Drs. Karolina Nieberle (Durham University), Paul Hanges (University of Maryland)

N/A

Current - 2020

  • In the process of creating database of Donald Trump’s presidential speeches from timeline before COVID-19 pandemic, and throughout pandemic. Aims are to code the speeches using google’s NLP algorithm for the use of “I” and “We,” followed by who the speech is directed towards. This analyses are based on social identity theory of leadership.

Modeling the power of affect in leadership judgments

Drs. Tiffany Keller Hansbrough (Fairleigh Dickinson), Paul Hanges (University Maryland), Roseanne Foti (Virginia Tech), Robert Lord (Durham University)

N/A

Current - 2021

  • We have designed two experiments where we test the role of affect on accuracy in leadership judgements. I am using causal random forest analysis to assess what factors lead to the largest treatment effect.
  • Initial paper proposal currently under review for a special issue in a top journal in the leadership field.

Teaching Experience

Power and Status (PSYC 42115)

Durham University, Psychology Masters Program

Durham, UK

2021 - 2021

  • Taught two separate 3-hour lectures. The first was an Intro to leadership lecture and the second was an inclusive leadership lecture
  • Graduate level class with Masters students taught via Zoom

Social Psychology (PSYC 2048)

Virginia Tech, Psychology Department

Blacksburg, VA

2017 - 2016

  • Instructor of record across 4 classes
  • Consistently above both college and departmental averages in ratings of teaching effectiveness

I received the “Favorite Faculty Award,” awarded by the student services department at Virginia Tech.

Industry Experience

Advisor on Implementation Science Committee

Promote Care Prevent Harm

https://promotecarepreventharm.org/advisors

Present - 2021

  • Lead developer on Shiny application used to collect data and assess development of self-regulation in schools

Summer Graduate Assistant

Office of the Provost

Virginia Tech

2017 - 2017

  • Assisted in creating evaluation tool for University’s “new faculty grant”
  • Co Authored article published in issue of journal of Society of Women Engineers magazine

Professional Graduate Assistant

University Office of Professional Development (UOPD)

Virginia Tech

2016 - 2015

  • Designed/distributed questionnaires for UOPD’s professional development programs using Qualtrics
  • Shadowed/assisted various speakers during UOPD’s organizational development workshops




Blogs Written (About)

Currently writing posts on data analysis tutorials using R, improving the process of team science, and other topics.

bpacton.com

N/A

Present - 2020



Workshops Taught

Transcribing text and initial text analysis using R

Durham University Centre for Leadership & Followership

N/A

8/2021

  • Taught 2-hour long workshop to smaller group of faculty and graduate students
  • Covered how to use “TranscribeR” package and “tidytext” package in R to analyze text data

Introduction to the Tidyverse and data analysis in R

Virginia Tech ILT Lab

N/A

2/2021

  • Taught 1.5 hour long workshop to a small group of PhD students and undergraduates

I have my data. Now what? A tutorial on data cleaning, wrangling, and initial analysis via R

Durham University PhD Students

N/A

12/2020

  • Taught 2-hour long workshop which served as an introduction to R for social scientists to a group of 15+ PhD Students

Conference Presentations

An application and tutorial for creating within-person memory-sourced leadership scales

Speaker & Lead Author

Academy of Management Annual Conference

2021

  • Authored with Drs. Robert Lord, Tiffany Keller Hansbrough and Roseanne Foti

More than liking: the role of memory systems and language in leadership ratings

Lead author on Poster

Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology Annual Conference

2021

  • Authored with Drs. Robert Lord, Tiffany Keller Hansbrough and Roseanne Foti

Assessing the impact of self-identity on organizational outcomes using an implicit measure

Speaker & Lead Author

Academy of Management Annual Conference

2020

  • Authored with Drs. Robert Lord, Tiffany Keller Hansbrough and Roseanne Foti

Capturing the process of cohesion emergence using continuous rating assessments.

Author, Speaker & Organized Symposium

Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology Annual Conference

2019

  • Authored with Dr. Charles Calderwood and Zach Mastrich

Ready & willing: assessing profiles of leader/follower self-schemas.

Author & Speaker

Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology Annual Conference

2019

  • Authored with Dr. Roseanne Foti

Agent-based modeling: current and future directions in organizational psychology.

co-Author on Poster

Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology Annual Conference

2019

  • Authored with Dr. Trevin Glasgow & Dr. Roseanne Foti

An examination of psychological collectivism using item response theory.

co-Author on Poster

Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology Annual Conference

2018

  • Authored with C. Du & Dr. Roseanne Foti

Putting two-and-two together: using sociometric measures to capture cohesion emergence

Speaker & Lead Author

Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology Annual Conference

2017

  • Authored with Dr. Michael Braun

Increasing the power to detect adverse impact in small selection contexts.

co-Author on Poster

Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology Annual Conference

2017

  • Authored with Dr. Maureen McCusker, Derek Burns, Nathan Wycoff, & Dr. Neil Hauenstein

The role of the “mere presence effect” in the development of intra-group cohesion.

Lead author on Poster

Society for Personality & Social Psychology

2017

  • Authored with Drs. Yashna Shah, Danny Axsom, & Roseanne Foti

I have many more conference presentations. If you are interested in an expanded list, please email me.